Timaru feels the heat on warmest day for 2018
Monday was Timaru’s hottest day so far this year as temperatures reached 28.1 degrees Celsius.
Other parts of South Canterbury were also feeling the heat - Pukaki saw a high of 29.9C, Fairlie about 28C, and Tekapo 26.6C, MetService meteorologist John Law said. The hottest temperature of the 2017-2018 summer, however, is 29, recorded on Christmas Day.
Those not back at work or school made their way to pools, the beach or the lake to cool off.
Enjoying the sun at Temuka Summer Pool were youngsters Kiya Hogg, 11, and Natalie Holland, 9.
Holland said she had been swimming at the pool ‘‘basically every day’’ over summer.
Hogg said it was a ‘‘nice, cool’’ place to be.
‘‘You come with your friends, and you hang out with your friends and you can have fun.’’
Temuka Summer Pool lifeguard Shaun Rooney, 17, said the pool had been a pretty busy place the past few weeks.
‘‘When it’s hot it’s very busy during the day,’’ he said.
‘‘We had roughly 80 people in [on Sunday].’’
At Lake Tekapo, Ashburton 4-year-old Amalie Townshend was celebrating her birthday in the sun.
Her mother, Kirsten, said the family had a holiday home in the town and had decided to make the most of the warm weather with a barbecue on the shore of the lake.
‘‘It’s beautiful weather,’’ she said. ‘‘It was beautiful on Saturday evening too.
‘‘We came here, mostly, for the lovely weather today.’’
Paddle Tekapo owner Peter Munro had his paddle boards and kayaks out on the water on Monday.
He said the weather had helped increase his business this summer season, his second year in business.
MetService meteorologist Tui McInnes said that while it looked as though the warm weather would continue on Tuesday, things could turn cool and rainy on Wednesday.
There was a low pressure system hanging out over the Tasman Sea which would start to make its away across the South Island around Wednesday, McInnes said.
As that front came through temperatures would drop to the mid-20s and possibly even 19C on Friday, he said.
Following that, people could expect things to dry up a bit, with maybe the ‘‘odd shower popping up in the afternoon’’, he said.
MetService meteorologist Brian Mercer said the warmest temperature Timaru had recorded during January, was 36.1C in 2004. Timaru’s highest recorded temperature is 41.3 in February 2011.